


Dreams Fly

by wuyi (anticommute)



Category: TFBOYS (Band)
Genre: M/M, all i want is cute fluff!!!!, anyway hi, im doing it, literally how the fuck do i tag this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-06
Updated: 2015-12-01
Packaged: 2018-04-25 02:03:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4942468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anticommute/pseuds/wuyi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Wang Yuan is an up and coming singer whose drama theme song happened to hit it big. Wang Junkai is one of the hottest young actors, reviving his musical career with a bang. | AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

He seemed much younger, under the softer light backstage. Up there, profile sharp in the bright spotlight, suit cut just right, Wang Yuan found it easy to forget that the boy was only a year older than him. He exuded an air of maturity, of ‘cool’ that seemed impossible for someone his age. Well. He supposed that they were both technically adults, but Wang Yuan certainly didn’t feel mature or cool in the slightest. If anything, he felt even less self assured than he had two years ago.

Wang Yuan had watched out of the corner of his eye as the other boy came off the stage from his performance. He’d politely greeted and thanked the staff before he’d retreated into his a corner, evidently seeking some time alone - even from this distance and in the dim lighting, Wang Yuan could see the brief flicker of disappointment or exhaustion that passed over his face, as he was quickly swarmed by stylists, managers, or whoever else was responsible for an idol’s up keeping.

“Him? Wang Junkai,” his own manager supplied. “Just another pretty boy idol." Zhou Xin was efficiently doing something, like she always was. She shrugged dismissively, barely looking up from her tablet to glance at the other boy. Wang Yuan was used to her thoughts on idols and ‘real singers’, so he just nodded.

“I know,” Wang Yuan said.

He more than knew - if anything, he’d been a bit of a fan, back when Wang Junkai had still been in an idol group. He wasn’t actually an idol anymore, but the label had followed him. It’d been three years since Wang Junkai’s group had disbanded, the company quietly citing the reason that the members wanted to focus on school, on writing entrance exams. It’d been obvious to anyone who cared that the truth was they just couldn’t compete with the Korean and Japanese groups and their well oiled idol factories. Only Wang Junkai had remained in the public eye, the others disappearing entirely. Even during CLOVER’s brief stint of popularity, Wang Junkai had been the real focus of the group.

He’d been handsome as a child, and was even more handsome now. 

Dramas, movies, commercials - he’d hopped smoothly from one to another, his musical career left to die with the cutesy bubble gum pop CLOVER had embodied. He was supposed to be an Actor now, a proper one, capital A and all. Or at least a popular one, a good draw for ratings among the ten to thirty female crowd— or maybe the female crowd in general, Wang Yuan wasn’t really sure, but at least he knew that his classmates were head over heels for him. They weren’t, he’d noted mournfully, even remotely interested in him.

And then, six months ago, he’d abruptly announced that he was releasing a single. A few raised eyebrows, some netizens digging up all the embarrassing video clips of his younger days, jokingly wondering if he’d show up in pastel overalls.

He hadn’t. 

It’d been a smooth dance track, showcasing his newfound maturity. The B-side had been a soulful ballad, showcasing his matured voice.

It had, in short, been a hit.

So here he was, just like Wang Yuan was, on this holiday program for new artists.

“You’re on standby soon,” Zhou Xin said briskly. She closed the schedule on her tablet, giving him a once over.

Wang Yuan shot her a cheeky grin. “Yes, I checked my mic, my in ear still works, and I promise not to trip on the wires again” he said preemptively, tacking a mock long suffering sigh. She rolled her eyes and cuffed him on the shoulder.

“Then get going,” she said.

“Yes, yes, I’m going!"

When Wang Yuan glanced back just before he left to go on standby, Wang Junkai had already disappeared.

-

Wang Yuan could feel his blood pounding through his veins, even as ran down the steps to the backstage. Even though he’d done this again and again, there was still something elating and emotional about the sheer feat of being on stage. The lights, the sounds - the lights of the audience, their attention, their cheers, their applause. It’d been scary at first, was still scary now, sometimes, but without a doubt, it was what he lived for.

“Good job.” Zhou Xin greeted him as he got off stage.

“Thanks,” he said. He wiped the sweat off his face with the towel she handed him, shaking out his bangs. The area backstage was much emptier now - he’d been towards the end - as people drifted off to dressing rooms to change and clean up. He should do that too, but instead, he just stood there and looked around.

“Get changed,” Zhou Xin said, breaking him out of his thoughts. “You’re recording your new single bright and early tomorrow - go home and get some sleep."

“Mmmm,” Wang Yuan hummed. He wasn’t really listening, but she was used to that. He did, however, wipe off his makeup and change into street clothes, leaving his performance clothes with her. He was old enough now to get home by himself - he preferred that actually, didn’t need her to drive him back, or for his parents to pick him up. In fact, he could drive himself home.

Hands tucked into his pockets and bag slung over his shoulder, he almost didn't notice Wang Junkai leaning against the hallway wall. The older boy was fiddling with his phone, a serious expression on his face.

Perhaps, it was because he was still high off emotion from performing. Perhaps it was because it was an unexpected encounter.

He stopped in front of Wang Junkai. Wang Junkai glanced up, frowning when he saw him.

“Hi,” Wang Yuan said, smiling widely and sticking out his hand. “I’m Wang Yuan."

Wang Junkai’s frown deepened, before he slowly took Wang Yuan’s hand. “Hi…?”

“I really like your song,” Wang Yuan said. The frown still hadn’t left Wang Junkai’s face, and Wang Yuan could feel his courage fading, but there was no turning back at this point. He wasn’t sure, however, if he should tell him that he had all of CLOVER’s CDs, and a light board that spelled out ‘Xiao Kai’ in bright green LEDs somewhere in his parents’ house - no, too creepy, he decided.

“Can I have your number?” he asked instead.

That…Wang Yuan quickly realized, was even more creepy.

Wang Junkai blinked in surprised.

“I don’t just give out my number to anyone,” he said--

Wang Yuan deflated. “No, I was—"

Wang Junkai smiled, reaching forward and plucking Wang Yuan’s phone from his other hand. “So you better call."

Wang Junkai watched in some amusement, as Wang Yuan walked off in a dazed. He smiled, mostly to himself. Entirely to himself, actually, but it was caught by Qianxi, his friend sauntering up the hall with a wave.

“Huh? Wasn’t that Wang Yuan?” Qianxi asked, turning to look behind him at Wang Yuan’s retreating back.

“Yeah,” Wang Junkai said. “Wait, you know him?"

Qianxi rolled his eyes. “Of course, he’s your number one competitor for the new artist award."

“Oh…Oh!” Wang Junkai’s eyes opened wide as realization dawned. “ _That_ Wang Yuan?"

“Wow, did you just give your number to an absolute stranger?"

“Uh— you heard that?"

“Well,” Qianxi said slowly, “he was mumbling something about ‘I can’t believe he gave me his number,’ so I guess that was you."

Wang Junkai just shrugged, tucking his phone into his pocket. “It’s not every day someone actually _asks_ me for my number,” he said, purposely striding down the same hall that Wang Yuan had just walked down. “Anyway, what took you so long?"

“Wow, no thanks for bringing up the car?” Qianxi needled him. “Oh uh, it’s down this way—"

“I knew that."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (what, does the summary sound familiar? what do u mean im repurposing a xinglu fic-- anyway =_= no one's going to read this but i feel like if i break it into manageable chunks for myself and throw them up as i go i'll be less obsessive over this. maybe.)


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so...i started writing this thinking it'd be easy to track down all the stickers/gifs and embed them in...but it wasn't.... so please imagine them instead n___n

His phone blinked an insistent green notification light at him as he walked out of the shower, toweling his hair dry. Wang Yuan frowned. Usually, at this time, the only messages he got was from his manager - and usually because he’d forgotten something…again. His parents were asleep by ten, and his friends preferred to pester him throughout the day (out of consideration for his sleep and early schedules, and he didn’t have the heart to tell them that he usually ended up staying up late anyway, fiddling on his phone). Swiping his phone off the bedside with one hand, Wang Yuan threw himself gracelessly over the bed.

> Wechat:  
> _Add phone contact Wang Junkai?_

Wang Yuan blinked, and hit add.

A second later, before he’d even had time to put his phone down:

> _小凯 has added you as a friend_

Wang Yuan grinned. He tossed the towel onto a chair, and quickly swiped through to find his newest contact.

> **王源_wy** : *rilakuma saying hi*  
> **小凯_wjk** : *jumping fat bunny saying hello*  
> **王源_wy** : *??? rilakuma*  
> **王源_wy** : *black cat peeking around wall*  
> **小凯_wjk** : *black cat bouncing ball w tail*  
> **小凯_wjk** : *tuzki doze off*  
> **小凯_wjk** : *rolling panda*  
> **王源_wy** : catching plane tmrw?  
> **小凯_wjk** : no why  
> **王源_wy** : *roll* go home?  
> **小凯_wjk** : [>D<] [>D<] [>D<] i am home [>D<]  
> **王源_wy** : *error*  
> **王源_wy** : *peeking cat*  
> **王源_wy** : *diver dog hiding head*  
> **王源_wy** : *peeking bunnies*  
> **王源_wy** : *oh my!*  
> **小凯_wjk** : *dog rolling around laughing*

Wang Yuan felt his ears turn red, and was glad that Wang Junkai couldn’t see it. Somehow, he’d totally forgotten that they both lived in the same city. Or maybe he’d always thought that Wang Junkai had moved away from Chongqing to Beijing.

> **王源_wy** : *tuzki head-desking*

Wang Yuan waited for a whole ten seconds - but this time, there was no prompt reply from Wang Junkai. Although, he supposed, the weirder thing was that there _had_ been.

Sighing, Wang Yuan tapped through to Wang Junkai’s profile. His profile was a selma of him grinning broadly at the camera, in front of what Wang Yuan guessed was his bedroom. There wasn’t much else to glean from that, except that this was definitely Wang Junkai’s account. Wang Yuan laughed a little at his ID: xiaokaikai9999, but considering his was yuanyuan00 - stones in glass houses and all that. In his defense, his mom had set the name for him.

On the other hand, Wang Junkai’s album was much more interesting. 

In a few short minutes, Wang Yuan gleaned that Wang Junkai still liked Naruto (yes!) and One Piece (yay!) although he seemed to be hiding it (not so yay), liked taking pictures of food, and wanted a dog. There were also a lot of pictures of himself, ranging from handsome and cool to silly faces that made Wang Yuan burst out in laughter. And also pictures of normal things like trees. 

The notification that Xiao Kai had sent a new sticker pulled his attention back to the chat.

> **小凯_wjk** : *apologising hamster*  
> **小凯_wjk** : sorry! friend called! [>_<]  
> **王源_wy** : girlfriend?

Wang Yuan sent the message without thinking, and immediately cursed himself, quickly sending an amendment

> **王源_wy** : /swt  
> **小凯_wjk** : *laughing while crying* no, i wish!  
> **王源_wy** : *shocked hamster*  
> **王源_wy** : i thought you’d have thousands!  
> **小凯_wjk** : /swt  
> **小凯_wjk** : *gloomy fat rabbit*  
> **小凯_wjk** : *rolling panda*  
> **王源_wy** : *black cat bouncing ball w tail*  
> **小凯_wjk** : what are you doing up so late?

Wang Yuan paused. ‘Playing games on his phone’ seemed kind of lame. He hesitated:

> **王源_wy** : preparing for tomorrow  
> **王源_wy** : =___=||

he typed instead. It wasn’t entirely a lie.

> **小凯_wjk** : *surprised pink dinosaur*  
> **小凯_wjk** : for what?  
> **王源_wy** : se~cret~  
> **小凯_wjk** : *cat peeking around wall*  
> **小凯_wjk** : *even to me?*  
> **王源_wy** : *shocked hamster*  
> **王源_wy** : ~just met you!  
> **小凯_wjk** : *laugh* *laugh* *laugh*

Wang Yuan made a face to himself.

> **王源_wy** : it’s not very interesting /swt

There was a short pause of about a minute, during which he stared blankly at the phone screen.

> **小凯_wjk** : i listened to your single  
> **小凯_wjk** : u have a very good voice *smile*

For the second time in a very short amount of time, Wang Yuan could feel heat creeping up his neck and ears.

> **王源_wy** : your voice is rly good too!!!!  
> **小凯_wjk** : *thank you bowing green wechat dog*

Something suddenly occurred to Wang Yuan.

> **王源_wy** : wait… you never heard it before?  
> **王源_wy** : *rolling panda*

He frowned, and stared very hard at the screen.

> **小凯_wjk** : /swt *laugh* *eyes emoji* i think i did on the radio but i didn’t know it was you...  
> **王源_wy** : who did you think it was/???  
> **小凯_wjk** : uh…someone?  
> **王源_wy** : then w ho did you think i was???????  
> **小凯_wjk** : some….one?  
> **王源_wy** : *tuzki face desk*  
> **王源_wy** : so you just gave ur number to someone u didn’t even know…at all….  
> **小凯_wjk** : *laugh* my friend said the exact same thing  
> **小凯_wjk** : what, want me to take it back?  
> **王源_wy** : no no no!  
> **王源_wy** : it’s too late!!!!  
> **王源_wy** : *curious rabbit*  
> **王源_wy** : why are you up so late?  
> **小凯_wjk** : catching up on everything so i can be your fan~  
> **王源_wy** : *rabbit passing out*  
> **王源_wy** : seriously…..  
> **小凯_wjk** : seriously!  
> **小凯_wjk** : particularly enjoyed that happy camp episode *big laugh*  
> **王源_wy** : *panda becomes stone and shatters*  
> **小凯_wjk** : so cute  
> **小凯_wjk** : *black cat patting grey cat*

Wang Yuan huffed.

> **王源_wy** : im not cute, im MAN!!!!!  
> **小凯_wjk** : so cute~~~

Wang Yuan had never been more glad that there was a screen between them; he was fairly sure his face was red too, now. First Wang Junkai had said his voice was good, and then he’d called him cute— this was too m much too soon!

> **王源_wy** : oops-manager says i better sleep!  
> **王源_wy** : because i have to wake up early tomorrow!  
> **王源_wy** : *apologising hamster*  
> **王源_wy** : *sleeping hamster*  
> **王源_wy** : *panda turning off lights*  
> **王源_wy** : *tuzki pulling blankets over head*

Wang Yuan groaned, tossing his phone onto the bed and pulling the blanket over his head like in the last Tuzki sticker he’d sent. But not before he saw the notification that Wang Junkai had sent another sticker.

Nope, nope. He did have to go to sleep! Flipping the phone over and reaching over to turn off the light, he very resolutely closed his eyes and waited for sleep.

 

\- - -

 

“Crap, crap, crap— I’m not late!"

Wang Yuan flew through the door, bag banging awkwardly against his back as he arrived just a little out of breath. Strictly against orders. Of course. He wasn’t technically late - he’d overslept his alarm, not by much, but late enough that he’d had to rush to get to the studio and may have sped a little on the way here.

Zhou Xin turned at the ruckus, tapping her fingers against the table. Thankfully, the producer, Zhang Yixing just smiled and waved him over.

“It’s okay, we weren’t going to start recording for another five minutes anyway, right?” The last was directed to his manager, and Wang Yuan breathed a small sigh of relief.

“Will you be ready to record in five minutes?” Zhou Xin asked, scrutinizing him. “You haven’t warmed up."

“I’m…warm?” Wang Yuan tried, but he quickly shook his head and dumped his stuff in the corner. “I’m sorry, it was my fault."

“Having to record the morning after a performance is tough,” Yixing said placatingly. “Just calm down and get ready - it’s ok if we start a little late."

Zhou Xin nodded, eyes sharp. “He’s in your hands,” she said, nodding at the producer. Wang Yuan was a little relieved when she seemed to be gathering her things to leave.

“Ahh—are you going somewhere?” he asked.

Zhou Xin nodded. “The company signed on a new kid the other day. I’m standing in as his manager while the company shuffles around the staff."

“But you’re _my_ manager,” Wang Yuan said.

“Still am, kiddo,” Zhou Xin said. She ruffled his hair as she walked past him, despite the fact that Wang Yuan had finally managed to grow just a bit taller than her. “You’ll just have to learn to share."

Behind him, the producer cleared his throat, and Wang Yuan turned guiltily to look at him. He knew he was wasting time.

“Sorry, I’ll just go warm up now,” he said. 

He was surprised though - sure, Zhou Xin annoyed him sometimes, but if the company was having her manage a new artist…did that mean they thought he wasn’t doing enough? Wang Yuan gave himself a shake - this wasn’t the sort of feelings he needed to have to record.

Whatever apprehensions he had must have shown on his face, because Yixing stopped him just before he walked into the recording booth.

“I know you’ve done this before, but just remember it doesn’t have to be perfect the first time. And, ah, you can do it!"

“Haha…” Wang Yuan laughed weakly. “I hope it doesn’t take as long as the last time."

Yixing winced in sympathy.

As Wang Yuan walked up to the microphone though, placing his notes on the stand in front of him, he felt, as always, the swirl of thoughts begin to melt away as he warmed up his voice. He also, as always, picked through the large boulders which weren’t washed away so easily - he was surprised, or perhaps, not so surprised, that Wang Junkai was front and foremost. He’d just really met the guy yesterday - well, Wang Yuan supposed he could put it down to the nerves of meeting someone so famous, but it wasn’t just that. He was friendlier than he’d expected - but then again, maybe Wang Yuan had felt that even before he’d barged up to him and talked to him. Or maybe Wang Yuan had just wanted to have an excuse to talk to him the next time they saw each other, because they almost certainly would - like hi, remember me? 

The other, a slowly growing pile of rocks, was the apprehension that he just wasn’t good enough. 

It was luck, really, that The Star who Loves You had gotten as popular as it had. Luck that the drama itself had gotten popular, when no one had really expected it to, compared to the other big names that had been running at the same time. The real test was whether this new album would be any good. A full album, with several MVs - of him, not clips from the drama - and a wider range of songs. No theme songs this time, just his own merit.

There was the niggling doubt now that the company wasn’t expecting him to do well, which was why they were slowly transferring Zhou Xin to a new artist. So when he inevitably failed, there was someone else to fill the void.

Wang Yuan shook himself out, let go of the thoughts, and gave the producer a thumbs up.

Yixing leaned forward into the mic. “Let’s try and get Wishing You Forever done today, like we planned. It’s the first day of recording, so it’s okay if we start a little slow. If we don’t get around to Secret Castle, that’s alright."

Wang Yuan made a face. “I thought we didn’t have enough time,” he said. They were supposed to start and finish recording this week, to give Yixing time to put everything together, and because they needed to do the photoshoots and the filming. At least, Wang Yuan thought to himself, he didn’t also have to learn some dance to go with it… that would’ve killed him, for sure.

“Rushing doesn’t help,” Yixing said placidly. “Now, let’s give it a go."

He nodded. He held the headphones up with one hand, and gave Yixing the thumbs up to start the music.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ...sneaks in b4 qianqian's bday ends n__n

Yi Yang Qianxi waved him over as Junkai slipped into the cafe. He liked this place—it was far enough out of the way that he usually got through quietly, and it had good coffee. That was always important.

“I thought you had a drama filming today,” Qianxi said.

He’d ordered ahead for him as usual. Junkai had gotten into the habit of texting him just before he’d arrive, ever since the Incident when the girl who’d come to take his order had burst into tears and collapsed onto the floor. Yeah.

Wang Junkai shook his head as he dropped into the wide chair, leaning back blissfully as he kicked his bag under the table.

“That’s tomorrow,” he said. “Magazine this morning, my face hurts from frowning."

Qianxi laughed and pushed the coffee closer.

“It still _is_ morning,” he pointed out.

“I _know_ , I had to get up at 5, do you know how terrible that was?” Wang Junkai groaned but sat up. He picked up the cup and tilted it appreciatively at Qianxi. “Third one today, but I need it."

Qianxi nodded in sympathy. “Tell me about it,” he said. “I had a paper due this morning, and I’m still not sure if I actually slept or just hallucinated I slept while I was still writing."

“A paper…” Wang Junkai pursed his lips contemplatively. Devoting himself to showbiz meant that his own studies had taken a backseat, and had dropped off entirely once he’d graduated from high school. Part of him wished that he could’ve gone to university, but his agency had pointed out he’d been too busy in high school, how was he going to balance that at all?

“Believe me, not worth it,” Qianxi said, cutting into his friend’s thoughts. “Your life is far more fun."

Wang Junkai laughed. “I guess, but sometimes I wonder what it’d be like to be normal."

“And everyone else wonders what it’d be like to be you."

Wang Junkai nodded. They’d had this conversation before. Sometimes, it was Qianxi who brought it up. At others, like now, it was Wang Junkai. Qianxi had been part of CLOVER with him, and was the only one Wang Junkai still talked to. More than just ‘talked to’ - somehow, they’d become best friends. The truth was, Wang Junkai was pretty sure that if he’d put his mind to it, Qianxi could easily have passed the exams for Beijing or Qinghua University, like he said he’d wanted to, as a kid. But instead, Qianxi had chosen to stick around Wang Junkai, helping him navigate late nights and scripts and all the other perils of teenaged life in general, and studying far less for the entrance exams than he should’ve. But Wang Junkai was selfishly glad. He’d had few enough good friends as it was, and Qianxi was definitely his closest.

Still, between Qianxi’s classes and Wang Junkai’s schedules, it was harder to fit in face to face time than they’d thought.

Qianxi already had his notes open in front of him. Wang Junkai sighed and pulled out the script he was supposed to be memorizing. He was flying out tonight so they could start filming an outdoor early morning scene—the worst sort, because nothing quite captured early morning like an actual early morning. But work was work.

It wasn’t too different from what most of his roles had been lately—the cool, young son of a powerful family, the love interest of one of the other side characters, while he secretly pined for the female lead. There was a period drama that he was hoping to get a role for, but the audition for that wasn’t for another few weeks. Wang Junkai’s mind drifted even as he repeated the lines to himself.

Without thinking, he’d started humming, fingers tapping out the rhythm, words drifting lazily through his mind.

“Sure looks like memorizing lines to me,” Qianxi said. Wang Junkai abruptly stopped. Qianxi had looked up and was grinning at him.

“Huh?” Wang Junkai blinked.

Qianxi nodded at him and his forgotten script. “Doesn’t seem like that’s what you’re working on. Have you started composing again?"

Wang Junkai hesitated, then nodded.

“Nothing serious, and none of it’s any good,” he said. “It’s just that since I’ve started singing again, it’s hard to get music out of my head even if I’m not singing at the moment."

“Mmm, I think I understand,” Qianxi said. “It sounded catchy though."

“Catchy?"

“Yeah, kind of happy, kind of catchy,” Qianxi elaborated. “Too bad that’s not part of your image."

Wang Junkai shook his head mournfully. His image was cool and composed and detached—kind of like the characters he’d been playing lately. Well, at least it was a consistent image.

“They’d never let me sing anything I wrote anyway,” Wang Junkai said. “Besides, there’s a reason why they have proper songwriters."

“Still, I’d like to listen to it when you’re done,” Qianxi said.

“That implies I’m gonna finish it,” Wang Junkai said. “I’ve only sketched out a melody."

“That’s progress,” Qianxi said. “More progress than you’ve made in a while."

Wang Junkai groaned. This wasn’t the first time he’d made a foray into writing music, and Qianxi was quick to needle him about his often aborted attempts. But this…this time was different. Wang Junkai couldn’t put his finger on it, but it _was_. It didn’t feel different, he didn’t think he’d done anything differently at least.

“Hey, I’m not trying to discourage you or anything! Maybe you could release it secretly online, pretend that it got ‘leaked’, you know,” Qianxi said.

“No, that’s not what I’m worried about,” Wang Junkai said. “It’s just for fun anyway."

But still, he couldn’t get it out of his head.

“Someone looks preoccupied.”

“Hm?"

Wang Junkai blinked and took off his headphones. He was waiting for his flight, which should be ready for boarding in another half hour or so. One of his co-stars had sat down next to him. Wang Junkai frowned a little to himself—before he remembered that Lu Han had said he’d be in town, since he was visiting a friend. It had completely slipped Wang Junkai’s mind. Well, it wasn’t like they weren’t about to spend a few days with each other.

“You look preoccupied,” Lu Han repeated.

Wang Junkai shook his head. “Just tired,” he said. “Did you have fun here?"

Lu Han nodded. “It was nice to just relax inside,” he said.

“You didn’t go out with your friend?” Wang Junkai asked.

“He’s been pretty busy these days too,” Lu Han said, his lips forming a small pout. Despite the fact he was closer to being thirty than twenty, at times like these, Wang Junkai could easily see why the older man was still sometimes cast as a high schooler.

“I guess this was bad timing,” Wang Junkai said, but Lu Han shook his head.

“It’s good when he’s busy, I think he’s happier that way—but enough about me, you’re too young to have such a serious look."

Wang Junkai glanced at Lu Han. They’d met a few years ago on set, both of them playing fairly minor parts of a big budget production, but their characters had been close and so they’d gotten close. He’d been glad when he’d found out that Lu Han would be playing the lead in the current drama—he liked working with him. They hadn’t gone out of their way to talk in the years between, outside of various functions and celebrations that were really just giant showbiz get-togethers, but it was still nice working with a familiar face.

The other thing about Lu Han was that at one point, he’d been the fresh young singer with boyish good looks too. He was older now, and had tacked on an acting career too, but his boyish good looks had remained.

Wang Junkai shrugged. “I can’t decide if I want to be a singer or an actor,” he said. If there was anyone he could talk to about this, it was Lu Han. “I thought it’d be enough if I could sing on the side…"

“But no one will take you seriously unless if that’s the only thing you do, right?” Lu Han quirked his lips.

“But I don’t want to give this up either,” Wang Junkai added.

“That’s what a compromise is,” Lu Han said. He laughed, mostly to himself. “Apparently I sound grown up and wise when I say things like that."

Wang Junkai didn’t get it, but he nodded anyway.

The thing was, that wasn’t everything.

He’d been messaging Wang Yuan on and off, since they’d met at the holiday program. Wang Junkai had been serious when he’d told Wang Yuan that he was catching up on his stuff. He was surprised that the other boy had never crossed his radar before—or rather that he must have, but that Wang Junkai had never really noticed.

Given a few years, it was clear that Wang Yuan would be a Real Singer. He was good looking and charismatic, true, but beyond that, his voice was true and his tone was clear, and when he sang, he sang from the heart. Maybe the only thing that made him different from other good looking young men with good voices was that he’d been lucky—but Wang Junkai could say as much for himself.

In a way, Wang Junkai envied him. He’d never tell him that, but it was something he could quietly admit to himself. What was it like to single-heartedly pursue one’s dream? Wang Yuan had an Image too, that was obvious, but it didn’t seem very different from the Wang Yuan who’d send him a string of WeChat stickers in the middle of the night, or the Wang Yuan who’d send him dumb pictures of himself making even dumber faces. Although, the faces he made on broadcast weren’t quite as dumb, but the gist of it was the same.

Wang Yuan had let slip that he was recording a new album. He hadn’t _meant_ to—Wang Junkai had pestered him until Wang Yuan had agreed to give him a little preview, on the strict condition he wasn’t going to tell anyone else!

It’d been constrained by the time limit of a single WeChat audio message, and the only background music was the sound of a kettle boiling somewhere, but even so, Wang Junkai could tell that no matter what the song sounded like, Wang Yuan singing it was what made it shine.

Since then, whenever Wang Junkai doodled out melodies or lyrics, it was with Wang Yuan’s voice in mind that he did—

Wait. He _did_?

The sudden realization made him sit bolt upright.

Lu Han gave him a strange look.

“Xiao Kai, are you alright?” he asked.

Wang Junkai shook his head and then nodded. “No, I’m fine, it’s just that…” A noise of frustration slipped through his teeth. Why hadn’t he realised sooner?

But that wasn’t something he could say aloud. So he shook his head again, and smiled reassuringly. “I just thought of something,” he said. His fingers itched for a pencil, and he wished he had a guitar, a keyboard with him. He didn’t—he was about to board a plane for an hour flight, and then he’d get a few hours of sleep before being hauled awake well before dawn so he could look slightly less dead as they did costume and makeup…but he wished he did.

It’d wait. It’d have to wait.

And it’d have to stay a secret too. Wang Junkai smiled to himself. It’d been a while.


End file.
